United Way's TRIAD Program Continues to Help Local Veterans

United Way's TRIAD Program Continues to Help Local Veterans

A North Texas Area United Way program designed to help soldiers adjust to civilian life after their service overseas continues to make big impacts.&nbsp; This is the second time the TRIAD program, which stands for Texas Resources for Iraq and Afghanistan Deployment, received funding to help those that risk their own lives for our freedom.

After his 14-month tour of duty in Iraq, Army Sgt. Jeffery Fischer said initially he didn't think he would have any major struggle adjusting to his old life. And then big problems began to set in. "When I first came back, I didn't seem to have any problems with PTSD, which is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but after about a year, it became very hard for me," Fischer says. Financial difficulties became too much to handle. "Basically my income went down a lot, especially after they medically retired me. I went to probably about one-third of what I was making," he says He reached out to Tiffany Roehm, the TRIAD, or Texas Resource for Iraq and Afghanistan Deployment, coordinator for the North Texas Area United Way. "It takes a while for their benefits to roll in from the VA, so there's always that time in between them getting their benefits where they're not getting and income. Then unfortunately, they're getting kicked out of their homes or they're losing their vehicles, or they can't feed their family, so we're just here to try to keep them all in their homes and their vehicles in their driveways," Roehm says. "I don't know what i would have done without them. At one point, I would have lost my car," Fischer says. The program helped keep Fischer on his feet and pointed him in the direction to get the help he needed. TRIAD has helped nearly four-dozen Texoma families since March, thanks to money donated by The Dallas Foundation and The Bridwell Foundation. If you or someone you know could benefit from this program, simply call 2-1-1 and they'll give you more information.